Escape Room 2: Tournament of Champions (2021)

The sequel to Adam Robitel's highly entertaining ESCAPE ROOM (which I reviewed here) is getting a Blu-ray, Digital and DVD release from Sony.

The winners of the first film find themselves on an underground railway carriage in the company of people who are previous winners of similar competitions. Before you can say 'that must have taken a fair bit of unlikely planning' they've been plunged into a championship of champions with the kind of elaborate time-sensitive, failure = death puzzles we've come to know and love.

If you liked the first ESCAPE ROOM (and I very much did) then chances are you'll find ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS buckets of ridiculous fun too. My favourite puzzle involved something very Elder Scrolls Skyrim set against the backdrop of a gorgeous Dr Phibes-style (or rather Brian Eatwell-style) art-deco set. Forty years ago this would have got called SON OF SAW in other territories. Adam Robitel directs and once again reinforces his reputation as a Leigh Whannell-style up and coming creator of well crafted exploitation fare.

Sony's Blu-ray includes two cuts of the film - theatrical (88 minutes) and extended (96 minutes). With DVD it's theatrical cut only and on digital it depends on the platform you get it from. The two cuts are surprisingly different, with radically different openings and endings - the final 20 minutes of each version have very little in common, plus the extended cut has a different subplot running through it. Watching the two versions it's obvious that the Extended Cut was intended as the release version but either tested poorly or was deemed unsuitable and a substantial rewrite resulted in a lot of cuts plus a fair bit of new footage being added. 

Either way if you're only going to watch one version of ESCAPE ROOM 2 the theatrical cut is the one to go for - it's leaner, tighter and has a more effective ending. The real bonus of having the extended cut is it gives you a chance to see how radically movies sometimes get altered before then end up in the cinema. The other extras on Sony's disc include fifteen minutes worth of featurettes, including a short interview with director Adam Robitel.

Adam Robitel's ESCAPE ROOM 2: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS is out on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from Sony on Monday 18th October 2021

Escape Room (2019)

"The *Good* ESCAPE ROOM"

Hollywood, ever bereft of original ideas, now seems to have run out of movie titles as well. For example, the 2019 SHAFT is a sequel to the 2000 film SHAFT which was a remake of the 1971 SHAFT. But it would seem we have now reached the stage where they can't even be bothered to give this new film either a number or a subtitle. 

Similarly there are three films out there with the title ESCAPE ROOM, all made within the last two years. So before we get started, let's get things straight. This is not a review of the 2017 ESCAPE ROOM starring Sean Young and Skeet Ulrich. It is also not a review of the 2017 ESCAPE ROOM currently playing on Netflix which takes ages to get going and limps along pitifully, featuring a girl trapped in a cage who is naked for no discernible reason other than likely exploitation desperation (and I have to admit it worked as that's about all I can remember about it).

No, the ESCAPE ROOM under consideration here is the new film by Adam Robitel, whose pretty decent INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY I reviewed a while back. That movie certainly managed a couple of good scares that made me want to check out his next project, which is easily the best of the films with the title ESCAPE ROOM out there at the moment.

Five strangers are sent posh puzzle boxes that, when solved, lead them to a mysterious tower block with the promise of winning $10 000 if they can survive an escape room game. On arrival they find themselves trapped in the building and having to work their way through a series of potentially lethal puzzles in order to reach the end. 

Like last year's UPGRADE or the FINAL DESTINATION series of films, ESCAPE ROOM is an undemanding and utterly entertaining piece of low budget horror fun that had me on the edge of my seat for much of the running time and chuckling with glee while I was at it. Influences are brazenly worn on sleeves (I won't say which as that would spoil things) and Mr Robitel gets top marks for giving the music of Tony Hatch and Petula Clark the horror film home it so very much deserves.

Extras are limited to a few tiny (between two and four minutes) featurettes about the production design, the cast and whether or not key personnel have ever been to an escape room. There are also a couple of deleted scenes. 

ESCAPE ROOM is 99 minutes of light, well-intentioned horror fun. Thoroughly recommended as a thriller for an undemanding evening's entertainment. 

Adam Robitel's ESCAPE ROOM is out on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download now.